Improvement in post-office lock-boxes



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. E. BRAMBLE. POST OFFICE LOCK-BOX.

Patented Apri111,1876

INVENTOR:

vertical section in line 2 zof Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is fourthly, that theglass cannot be readily UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM H. BRAMBLE, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN POST-OFFICE LOCK-BOXES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 175,8] 7, dated April11, 1876; application filed October 4, H75.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. BRAMBLE, ofDecatur, in the county of Macon and State of Illinois, have invented acertain new and Improved Post-()flice Lock-Box; and I do hereby declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 represents, in front elevation, asection of the box-frame or Wall of a postofliee, showing fourbox-fronts, viz, two without their doors, one with the door closed, andone with the door open. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal a horizontal section inline 3 3 of Fig. 2 and Fig. 4 is a horizontal section in linerrr of Fig.2.

Similar letters of reference in the accent panying drawings denote thesame parts.

The metal-front post-office box (first shown in my patent of March 3,1866,) as now in general use, is provided with adoor to which is secureda lock, and the metal box front or frame is attached to the edges of thepigeon-holes by means of flanges or lugs that embrace such edges, andare connected by screws or rivets passing through the wood. Thisconstruction is liable to several objections, chief among which are,first, that the flanges or lugs project from the surface of thepigeon-holes and form shoulders against which the mail matter catcheswhile being drawn out of the box; secondly, that the doors, in order tosupport and accommodate the locks, must be made unnecessarily heavy andcumbersome for their legitimate purpose and the glass plates must bemade very small thirdly, that the locks canilot be operated from theinside of the office without reaching the hand into the pigeon-hole,which, in consequence of the size of the pigeon hole or the presence ofmail matter therein, it is not always easy to do;

removed from the doors when necessary for any purpose; fifthly, that theboxes cannot be locked from the inside so as to prevent any key fromopening them from the outside;

and, lastly, thatlthe box-fronts as heretofore constructed are difiicultto fit together.

remedy these inconveniences, and to this end the invention consists,first, in a new mode of securing the face-plates or metal fronts to thepigeon-holes so as to avoid the use of the lugs; secondly, in arrangingthe lock in the side walls of the pigeon-holes, instead of in the doors;thirdly, in combining with the pigeonholes and locks means for unlockingthe box from the rear without inserting the hand into it; fourthly, incombining with the lock, and the material of which the box walls areformed, means for stopping the movement of the lock mechanism from therear of the pigeon-hole and without inserting the hand into it; fifthly,in an improved mode of securing the glass plates to the box-doors;sixthly, in an improved combination of safety-catch for securing thedoor and spring for throwing it open automatically when unlocked; and,seventhly, in an improved box-front, adapted to lit easily to the otherbox-fronts around it, all substantially as I will now proceed to setforth.

In the drawings, B B B B are the pigeon holes or boxes, arranged in theusual order, having their rear ends open and their front ends coveredwith metallic fronts or faceplates and doors, so as to present an entirefront of metal and glass, for purposes of greater security and also ofneatness and ornamentation. The continuity of the metal and glass frontis accomplished by affixing to the vertical front edge of each verticalboxpartition a metallic face plate, A, which exactly covers such edge,and in length extends from the middle of one horizontal box-partition tothe middle of the next adjacent one above or below, and constructing thedoors D of such dimensions that, when closed, their proximate terminaledges will fit closely together, while their lateral edges will overlapthe lateral edges of the face plates A. Each door is hinged to itsappropriate face-plate, as shown at a, and is provided with a spur, of,that, when the door is'closed, engages in a hole in, or under aprojection upon, the side wall 01 the box, and thereby prevents the doorfrom being raised clear of its hinges.

The doors are preferably made with an iron frame supporting a glassplate, through which the condition of the box can be inspected Theobject of this invention is therefore to without the necessity ofopening the door 3 and, when so made, instead of employing the somewhatcomplicated and expensive mode of attaching the glass as heretoforepracticed, I simply provide hooked lugs, c c, on the bottom and sides ofthe inner surface of the metal doorframe, and slide the glass down fromthe top into the fastening thus made. When the door is open the glasscan be raised out without difiiculty, but when closed the upper edge ofthe glass plate catches under the lower edge of the horizontalbox-partition b above it, and is thus securely held in place. Theface-plates are secured to the front edges of the verticalboxpartitions, first, by means of pegs or, as an equivalent thereof, aflange, a, formed on their inner surface and fitting closely into agroove formed in the edge of the wooden partitions, as shown in Figs. 2,3, a construction which protects them from lateral displacement; and,secondly, by means of rods 1-, or equivalent strips or chains, one ormore of which extend from the face-plates or from the locks attachedthereto through suitable holes bored in the vertical partitions, to therear or inner edges of the boxes, where they are held firmly in place byscrew-nuts, 9". These rods are shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. Themetal facings can thus be removed with ease by a person operating fromthe inside of the ofiice, but not by a person on the outside, no portionof the rods being exposed on the outside. The box'locks (whoseconstruction and operation are set forth in a pending application forLetters Patent filed by me contemyoraneously herewith) are countersunkin the sides of the vertical boxpartitions, or arranged in recessesprovided in the front edges of such vertical partitions, so that theywill present no obstacle to the easy withdrawal of the mailmatter fromthe box. The side plates of the locks are preferably flush with the twosides of the partition to which the lock is attached. The face plates Aare cast or formed on or as a part of one of the side plates of thelook, so as to steady the front edge of the lock and help secure it inplace; and the rods 0", or one of them, may be screwed into the rearedge of the lock, to hold it securely at that edge. The support thusgiven to the look by its fitting into the recess provided for it and byits connection with the face-plates A and rods 1" will be abundantlysufiicient for it. The pins or spurs (I may be arranged to extend intoholes in the side-plates ot' the locks and to bear against springs swhen the box is closed, which springs will automatically throw the doorsopen when unlocked. The result of the construction above described is tokeep the pigeon-hole clear of all obstructions, leavingits tloor, sides,and top perfectly smooth and flush, thereby preventing any inconveniencein the removal of matter from the box; and to obviate the necessity ofmaking the boxdoor unnecessarily heavy in order to support the lock. Thearrangement of the lock or the catch which holds the door in theside-wall of the box enables me to construct said lock or catch so thatit can be operated from the rear or inner side of the metal box-front,to open the door, or to prevent it from being opened. With any lock orapparatus, L, in which the catch that holds the door is movable, (as,for example, in my improved lock above referred to,) I attach to orconnect with the movable catch a rod or equivalent in such a manner thatby pressing the rod or equivalent toward the catch it will raise ordepress the catch and disengage it from the door, thereby unlocking thelatter. In order to conceal this rod or equivalent device, prevent itfrom interfering with the removal of matter from the box, and put it outof the power of the box-renter to tamper with it, I bore a hole edgewisethrough the vertical box-partition and extend the rod or equivalentthrough such hole to the rear edge of the pigeon-hole, where itprojects, as shown at m, in a position for convenient operation by thepostmaster or his employs. Many modes of connecting the rod to themovable catch may be employed, and I do not confine my invention to thedetails of construction, but regard it as covering any construction ofmovable door-catch with rod or equivalent extending to the rear edge ofthe box and concealed in the walls, bottom, or top of the box.

In the drawings the rod m is represented as connected with the latch lby means of a bellcrank lever inside of the lock, the bell-crank leverand the main portion of the rod being shown in dotted lines. With thisconstruction the door is released by an upward movement of the catch l,which upward movement draws the rod m forward, or, on the other hand,may be caused by pushing the rod forward from the rear side of theboxes. When the rod m is thus connected to the movable catch 1, itfollows that if the rod can be locked so as to render it impossible todraw it forward, the catch lcannot be raised and the box cannot beunlocked by any kind of key whatever. I accordingly afiix a screw-nut,a, to the rear end of the rod in such a manner that it can be screwed upfirmly against the rear edge of the vertical partition through which therod extends, and thereby eflectually pre vent any forward movement ofthe rod, and, consequently, any opening of the box by a person on thefront side of the ethos. This arrangement will be of great utilitywhenever it is desirable to prevent the person who holds the box-keyfrom using his box, as, for example, when the key has come into improperhands, when the box-rent is in arrears, &c.

It will be observed that the same devices are here employed for openingthe box from the rear and also for permanently locking it from the rear.It is not necessary, however, that the same device should serve bothpurposes. One rod may be used for opening the box and another rod,chain, or equivalent, may be employed, when desirable, to permanentlyclose the box. The combination of the two devices in one is, however,more simple, convenient, and practical- I do not limit my invention tothe precise means for permanently locking the box from the rear, butconsider that it is as broad as the application of the principle of thuspermanently closing the box.

It will, of course, be obvious to any one that the operation of the rodm might be reversed by a slight modification of my construction, so thatwhen drawn out it would open the box, and, when prevented by anysuitable means from drawing out, would permanently lock the box, and insuch case chains or other equivalents could be used in place of the rodor rods. So, also, a rod might be used which,

by simply turning it to the right or left, would operate the latch l.or, by securing it from turning, would permanently fasten said latch.All these I regard as mere modifications of my invention, within therange of ordinary mechanical skill.

I claim as my invention- 1. The flanged face-plates A, combined with thegrooved vertical box-partitions, substantially as and for the purposesset forth.

2. The combination of a post-office box, having the usual front door andside partitions, with a lock embedded in one of the side partitions, soas to leave the interior of the box substantially unobstructed; akey-hole and locking mechanism by which the lock can be operated fromthe front of the box; and a rod extending through the interior of theside wall or vertical box-partition to and projecting from the rear edgethereof, whereby the front door can be either unlocked or permanentlylocked by a longitudinal movement of said rod, and whereby the operatingmechanism of the lock is removed from all danger of interfering with thecontents of the box, or from being interfered with thereby,substantially as described.

3. In a postoffice box or other similar receptacle, a lock, L, arrangedin the side wall, metal connections 0* for securing it to the rear edgeof the wall, and a metal faceplate, A, for securing it at the front edgeof the wall, all combined substantially as described.

4. In a post-office lock-box, the combination of the horizontalbox-partitions with the metal door-frames, the glass plates, and thehooks O for securing the glass plates to the doorframes, substantiallyas described.

5. In a post-oflice lock-box, the combination of the doors D, the spursdprojecting through the lock-plate, and the spring 8 on the oppositeside of the lock-plate, for opening the door when unlocked,substantially as described.

6. A series of post-office boxes, having each its own independent metalfront, composed of a lateral face-plate and a door matching the otherdoors above and below and overlapping the lateral faceplates,substantially as described.

WILLIAM H. BRAMBLE.

Witnesses:

M. (Janeen, E. S. KARNER.

